Rural Vermont village life at its best will be on display at the fourth annual Cabot Village 12th Night Celebration, presented by Cabot Arts, Friday and Saturday, Jan. 5 and 6. The festival features a wide array of performing arts and activities for all ages in a family friendly atmosphere.
To sum up my 18 years writing about music for The Times Argus and Rutland Herald, I’d say Vermont is a very nurturing and giving state for musicians of all stripes, but, in my case, this is especially true for acoustic traditional music.
Amid the plethora of best-album lists, we like to take a slightly different tack in looking back on the year in pop music. What follows is our highly biased list of 10 noteworthy, most obsessed-over albums by artists who graced our fair little state with a live performance during 2023, in or…
Abstract landscape with brilliant tropical colors and shapes by Arista Alanis; a pair of mokuhanga collage prints by Patty Hudak; a mirror, chair and audio interactive installation by janet e. dandridge — with these and other artworks, the exhibition at Vermont Studio Center in Johnson brill…
“Bach & My Bicycle” (2023), Annemieke Spoelstra McLane’s third solo album, following “Toccare” in 2009 and “Birds and Beethoven” in 2016, opens with the French Suite No. 2, BWV 813 by J.S. Bach (1685-1750), serving as a reminder that McLane is a very fine pianist.
Live music has long been a popular pick for ringing in the New Year, and this year’s offerings deliver a plethora of compelling events. Here’s a look at some noteworthy options happening around the state.
‘I find this incredible beauty in everyone’s face. I’m drawn to people and spend my life working with people. When I feel I capture a person in their portrait, it will just take me to tears,” said August Burns last week, sitting in the North Branch Café, surrounded by faces — faces of other …
There was no shortage of noteworthy Vermont releases this year — everything from folk, rock and pop to hip-hop, blues and jazz.
‘Amahl and the Night Visitors,’ Gian Carlo Menotti’s timeless Christmas opera, for tenor Joshua Collier, artistic director of Barn Opera, delivers a message that goes straight to the heart, regardless of any religious affiliation — or none.
Great composers like Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn and Brahms are best known for their mature masterpieces. But they all were composing in their youth — and that music reveals their early genius.
Compelling concerts are a sure cure for chilly December nights. Here’s a look at two bright spots on the live music horizon, with artists who all have new albums in tow.
Photojournalist Sarah Milligan recently captured images from the holiday tree lighting outside the State House. The event was hosted in part by Gov. Phil Scott, who later read holiday stories to children visiting the event.
Can tiny Northfield be home to professional theater? Dirt Road Theater, with a number of successful productions under its belt, thinks it’s time and has made its move.
Now a couple of years ago, Dina Janis left her position of 13 years as artistic director of the Dorset Theatre Festival, in which she resurrected the moribund company into one of the state’s top professional theaters. As she remains on the faculty of Bennington College, it seemed unlikely he…
Andrew Crust, who made his debut as music director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra at Burlington’s Flynn in October, now takes the helm for one of the orchestra’s two most popular series, the VSO Holiday Pops. And he has his own ideas.
The late John Denver could have certainly claimed a strong musical involvement with the Christmas season. Throughout his 30-year career he recorded eight albums that had a Christmas theme. Perhaps the most acclaimed John Denver tribute performer is Chris Collins.
Andrew Crust, who made his debut as music director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra at Burlington’s Flynn in October, now takes the helm for one of the orchestra’s two most popular series, the VSO Holiday Pops. And he has his own ideas.
Beginning Friday, the T.W. Wood Gallery presents “Ruins — Poems and Paintings of a Vanishing America.” The exhibition’s opening coincides with the gallery’s gala celebration of Thomas Waterman Wood’s 200th birthday.
Karina Rykman is a fun-loving, fast-rising force to be reckoned with. The New York City native brings her talented power trio – Adam November (guitar/looper/effects) and Chris Corsico (drums) — to Nectar’s for a two-night stand Dec. 1 and 2, almost one year to the day after making her sold-out Nectar’s debut.
George Frederic Handel’s “Messiah” has been a Christmas tradition throughout the world as long as most can remember, despite originally an Easter work. And Vermont is no exception, with longtime annual performances in Montpelier and Barre and Rutland.
“A Hug” and Jeanne Morningstar Kent’s story are among the artworks and narratives by Abenaki artists and community members featured in “Beyond the Curve: American Abenaki COVID Experience,” up through Jan. 6, at the Mad River Valley Arts Gallery in Waitsfield.
When Carol Dunne, Northern Stage’s producing artistic director, decided she wanted to present Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” as the company’s annual holiday show, she knew she didn’t want any of the usual stage adaptations. So she decided to her create own.
Brian McCarthy is back in a big way. A standout on the Vermont jazz scene for the past decade, the Hardwick-born, Colchester-based saxophonist and composer, 42, returns with his first album in six years — and it’s a doozy.
Daniel Bruce is best known as the conductor who has led the Green Mountain Mahler Festival’s annual New Year’s Day performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony for all of its 10 years. So it’s not surprising that the East Montpelier maestro has chosen Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony as the center…
Ludwig van Beethoven was 38 years old and becoming more and more deaf when he was conductor and piano soloist — and, of course, composer — in perhaps the most extravagant concert of his career.
When The Friel Sister take the stage at the Barre Opera House at 7:30 p.m. Friday, they’ll bring their youthful sounds of Irish and Scots music. Anna, Sheila and Clare Friel are Glasgow-born but primarily influenced by the music of Donegal in the northwest of Ireland.
Vermont Virtuosi had a pretty straightforward reason for programming Mozart’s famous “Dissonant” String Quartet for its upcoming concerts.
On Sunday, when the Champlain Trio performed works of Robert Schumann and Frank Bridge at the Dibden Center for the Arts in Johnson, it revealed an ensemble of musical maturity and expertise. Soon to enter its fourth year, the three players have been working together consistently and intense…
Ten years after releasing its lauded debut album “Dark Holler Pop,” North Carolina four-piece group Mipso visits Vermont Nov. 11 with a headline show at the Higher Ground Ballroom in support of its stellar new album “Book of Fools,” released in August.
After a hiatus of several years, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra is returning to its “Made in Vermont” tour, in which the VSO Chamber Orchestra showcases Vermont’s unique music around the state.
On Sunday afternoon, the Vermont Philharmonic performed a truly symphonic program to the largest audience it has seen at the Barre Opera House in memory. The previous evening it played the same program for a near-capacity crowd at the Highland Center for the Arts in Greensboro. More and more…
The Cowboy Junkies, a popular Canadian alternative country/blues/folk rock band, that may have flown under the radar in terms of visibility in Vermont, makes a rare, perhaps singular, appearance at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 4, at the Barre Opera House as part of its Celebration Series.
Recently Vermont enjoyed two momentous music events, performances that will reverberate for a long time. On Sept. 30 at Burlington’s Flynn, Andrew Crust made a promising debut as music director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, its first change in 20 years. And Opera Company of Middlebury p…
After a year-long pause in public performance to rest and reconsider the future direction of Scrag Mountain Music, “Sacred Songs of the Marys” ushers in a new vision of the central Vermont music organization, one of “healing and connection in musical service to our community.”
Nick Charyk, frontman of White River Junction-based cosmic honky-tonk band Western Terrestrials, is the first to admit that he likes a good theme when creating an album.
In fact, “Connections Across the Centuries,” will feature Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony No. 9, which reflects American voices not often heard in the traditional classical repertoire.
If you’re of Scottish descent, or a lover of Celtic music, or perhaps a fan of “Outlander,” set in Scotland, you’ll want to be at the Barre Opera House at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20, for a Celebration Series concert featuring Julie Fowlis and her band.
T.W. Wood Gallery The T.W. Wood Gallery presents “Wendy Hackett-Morgen,” through Nov. 18, at the Center for Arts and Learning, 46 Barre St. in Montpelier. Hours are noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; admission is free; call 802-262-6035, or go online to
Highland Center for the Arts Highland Center for the Arts presents “A Sense of Place,” paintings by Adelaide Murphy Tyrol and photographs by Richard J. Murphy, through Nov. 12, at The Gallery, 2875 Hardwick St. in Greensboro. Hours are: noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday; call 802-533-3000, or …
Northern Stage Northern Stage opens its 26th season with “Selling Kabul,” Sylvia Khoury’s searing drama Oct. 11 to 29 at the Barrette Center for the Arts, 74 Gates St. in White River Junction. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays (6:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14 opening night); 5 p…
For pianist Jeewon Park, the music of Johann Sebastian Bach has always had deep personal meaning and importance. She will be the featured soloist in the Keyboard Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052 when Capital City Concerts presents its annual “Music of J.S Bach” program in Montpelier and Burlington.
Literary giants James Joyce and Samuel Beckett find themselves together in a place that playwright Jeanne Beckwith explains is, “not in or of this world. Time is not an issue in this play.”
Paul Orgel, one of this state’s finest pianists, is celebrating his 25th year on the music faculty of the University of Vermont. “I wasn’t counting — but it snuck up,” he says with a laugh.
This week, in spite of the toll of floodwaters and storm damage, Studio Place Arts opened “Rock Solid XXIII,” showcasing stone sculpture and assemblages by regional artists and other work that depicts the beauty of stone.
When the temps start to dip, it’s a sure sign that the live music action starts to heat up, and this fall’s lineup delivers a plethora of pop music options. Here’s a look at some noteworthy shows in September and October:
The American Civil Rights Movement is filled with untold or forgotten stories, particularly those of the women who played such an important part in making it all happen. One particularly fascinating story is of the so-called “Cadillac crews,” in which carloads of Black and white women drove …
After 20 years with the legendary Jaime Laredo at its helm, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra begins a new chapter in its 89-year history. Andrew Crust, named the orchestra’s fifth music director in May, will open the 2023-24 season with “A New Beginning” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, at The…
After the flooding of July 10, 2023, Vermont communities will recover, and artists will welcome you to studios statewide 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, and Sunday, Sept. 30 and Oct. 1.
A Vietnam War prisoner of war, held for a decade by the North Vietnamese, returns home to find that his wife has moved on and his country has changed beyond recognition — including the values he believed he had been fighting for. The stuff of opera?
There’s power in the message a blues song can convey beyond the many travails of a romantic relationship. In his newest and 10th album, Montpelier’s supreme bluesman Dave Keller lays it out in track two, “The Truth of The Blues.”
